Catalunya, a republic in progress

Catalonia’s desire to become an independent republic disconnected from Spain is not new, it is at least 3 centuries old. But the spectacular increase in the number of supporters to the independence that has occurred in the last 10 years (from 15% to around 50% of the population), can only be explained by the hostile attitude of the Spanish Government.

In June 2010, the sentence of the new Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, approved first in the Catalan parliament and in the Spanish congress in 2006, but later appealed by the conservative PP party, at that time in the opposition, to the Constitutional Court, sectioned numerous articles of it by considering them unconstitutional and created a great discomfort among the population and the Catalan political class. From then on, events began to precipitate due to many massive and peacefully demonstrations that gathered each one more than 1 million people of the catalan people, already tired of the continuous affronts of the Spanish central government to the autonomy, financing and language of Catalonia. The former Catalan President Artur Mas, paid attention the popular clamor and requested numerous times a fairer financing for Catalonia and, later, the implementation of an agreed referendum of self-determination, both requests repeatedly denied by the PP government. After the absolute parliamentary majority achieved by the coalition of the pro-independence parties in 2015, the new Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, the Vice President Oriol Junqueras and the majority of the Catalan parliament decided to hold an unilateral referendum of self-determination for October 1, 2017.

On September 20 with the intervention of the Department of Economy and Finance of Catalonia and with the first arrests by the Spanish Civil Guard, started the harsh campaign of the Spanish government to prevent the celebration of such a referendum, which they called it illegal. The population took peacefully the streets from the first minute in defense of democracy, their right to decide and their institutions allowing the referendum, organized with great secrecy and astuteness, to be finally held on October 1. Despite the terrible repression of the riot forces of the National Police and Civil Guard (Spanish police) that caused almost 1000 wounded among civilians that defended the polling stations, including women and old people, about 2.2 million people could finally vote, even though some 400 schools were forcibly closed or the polls were requisitioned. There were no incidents in places not visited by these two police forces. The counting of votes established a favorable YES vote to the independence of approximately 90%.

On October 27, after several calls to dialogue with the central government and two leaders of civil organizations in preventive detention, the Catalan Parliament held the vote for the proclamation of the Republic of Catalonia, an act celebrated with great joy by a big part of the population and rejected by the other. From then on the Spanish president Mariano Rajoy activated article 155 that supposed the suspension of Catalan autonomy and its representatives and announced new elections on December 1. President Puigdemont and some councilors went into exile in Brussels, and some others, including Vice President Junqueras, were imprisoned without bail, where they still remain.

As a result of those elections, the sovereignist block formed by PDCAT, ERC and CUP has revalidated its absolute majority even though that the unionist-right wing Ciudadanos has been the most voted party (but they cannot create alliances to govern). The future right now is uncertain but it seems that the process of building a Catalan republic will be a little bit longer.